1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for searching for and interacting with devices in a residential network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) provides services such as information services, moving image contents, and broadcasting to TVs through an IP network, that is, a high speed internet network. Since a communication and broadcasting combined service has become more robust and thereby, an interest on the IPTV services has increased, it is expected that activation of the IPTV services may significantly affect communication, broadcasting, contents, and appliance industries.
In general, an IPTV service user may have separate set-top boxes for each IPTV vendor, in order to receive the IPTV services through an IP network. Only the IPTV service user, who has the IPTV set-top boxes manufactured based on standards set by an IPTV service provider providing the IPTV services, may receive the IPTV services provided from the corresponding IPTV service provider. For example, when it is assumed that there exists three IPTV service providers, A, B, and C, a service user, who has purchased a set-top box manufactured by A, can only use IPTV services provided by A. The user may separately purchase a set-top box manufacture by B or C, in order to use IPTV services provided by B or C. Such a problem in compatibility between the IPTV services and the set-top boxes narrows the range of selection for service users. Consequently, quality of the IPTV services may be low or the base of the services may be difficult to expand.
In order to solve such a compatibility problem, an open IPTV forum has been recently established and standardization of IPTV services is under discussion. In this forum, a common standard, which is not dependent upon the IPTV service providers, is to be set and providing of the IPTV services to the service users based on the common standard is being discussed.
The open IPTV forum aims at creating an interface and a hardware platform, which are not dependent upon the IPTV service providers, and providing the IPTV services from a plurality of the IPTV service providers to the user. According to open IPTV forum architecture, even if the users have only set-top boxes from only a select number of IPTV service providers, IPTV services can be provided from each of a plurality of different IPTV service providers and thus, the range of selection of the users may be expanded.
In order for the users to use the services provided from each of a plurality of different IPTV service providers, devices relaying the services provided from a plurality of the IPTV service providers are to exist in a residential network according to functional architecture of the open IPTV forum. Entities such as Application Gateway (AG), IMS Gateway (IG), and CSP Gateway (CG) according to the functional architecture of the open IPTV forum correspond to the relay devices. Such relay devices receive the IPTV services provided from a provider network, existing the outside of the residential network, and relay the received services to terminals in the residential network.